The spring of 2018 marked the end of an era and the beginning of another. Yuta's departure for his training overseas left a quiet void in our class. The dynamic of the five of us, forged in the fires of the Night Parade, was now a group of four. We were no longer first-years, but the new second-years, veterans of a war no one could speak about, tasked with showing the ropes to the incoming class.
And for me, that class consisted of one person who mattered more than any other: Megumi Fushiguro.
Seeing him in the Jujutsu High uniform felt both deeply strange and perfectly natural. The stoic, serious boy I had watched grow up was now officially a sorcerer, taking his first steps onto the path that had been chosen for him long ago. Our relationship shifted. I was no longer just his friend; I was his senpai. A duty I took with the utmost seriousness. He was sharp, talented, and already more powerful than most sorcerers twice his age, but he was also reckless, his self-sacrificial nature a glaring weakness I was determined to help him overcome.
The fragile peace of this new school year, however, was destined to be short-lived.
It was a humid afternoon in June when Satoru summoned Megumi and me to an empty classroom. He was perched on a teacher's desk, swinging his legs like a teenager, but the look behind his blindfold was all business.
"Mission time," he announced, his voice lacking its usual playful lilt. He tossed a file onto the desk in front of Megumi. "A Cursed Object storage screen at a high school in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, has gone missing. The object within is a verifiable Special Grade. Your mission, Megumi, is to locate and retrieve it. Simple."
Megumi picked up the file, his expression grimly focused. A solo mission to retrieve a Special Grade object was a serious assignment for a first-year, a clear sign of Satoru's faith—or recklessness.
Then, Satoru's gaze shifted to me. "Aki, you're going with him."
Megumi looked up, a flicker of protest in his eyes. He hated the idea of needing a babysitter.
Satoru held up a hand, preempting any argument. "Officially, you are there only to observe, a senior student mentoring a junior. Unofficially," his voice dropped, the authority within it absolute, "if things go sideways, you handle it. This object is dangerous. I am not losing one of you over a dried-up finger. Understood?"
"Yes, sensei," we both said in unison.
The train ride to Sendai was quiet. Megumi was studying the mission file, his brow furrowed. I could feel his frustration at my presence, but also his relief. We were a team, the two of us. The quiet girl who could unmake reality and the stoic boy who commanded its shadows.
"I can handle this myself," he finally said, not looking up from the file.
"I know," I replied softly, watching the city blur past the window. "But Satoru-nii worries. After Tsumiki… he worries more than he lets on."
The mention of his sister silenced him. Her sudden, inexplicable curse a few months prior had become the driving force of his life. My inability to heal her was a shared, unspoken wound between us. He knew I was there because Satoru couldn't bear the thought of another child in his care being irreparably harmed. He nodded, accepting the situation.
Sugisawa Third High School was unnervingly normal. We found the empty Cursed Object box in a small, weathered steeple on the grounds, just as the report had suggested. The residual energy was faint, but vile. Ancient.
"It's gone," Megumi stated, his analysis swift. "But the protective charm is still here. A normal person couldn't have opened this. It must have been a curse drawn to the object that broke the seal, but the object itself is gone. Someone took it." He closed his eyes, focusing. "The energy is faint, but the students here are covered in it. The Occult Research Club. They must have it."
We tracked the club members down to a local hospital. And that's when we met Yuji Itadori.
He was sitting in a waiting area, on the phone, his voice loud and cheerful despite the somber surroundings. He was tall, athletic, with a shock of pink hair and a smile as bright and guileless as the summer sun. My Stygian Eyes, however, saw something entirely different. He possessed a level of innate physical talent that was completely inhuman, on par with Maki's Heavenly Restriction, yet he had not a single drop of Cursed Energy. He was a paradox. And clinging to him, like a shroud, was an overwhelming aura of imminent, catastrophic death.
Megumi, in his typical, blunt fashion, confronted him. The conversation was exactly as I knew it would be. Yuji, friendly and confused. Megumi, intense and demanding. The reveal that Yuji's grandfather had just passed away. The reveal that Yuji had given the cursed object—the finger of Ryomen Sukuna—to his club seniors, who were planning to unwrap it that night at the school.
The moment Yuji's friends were mentioned, the air changed. The faint Cursed Energy clinging to the school in the distance began to churn, to grow. Curses were gathering, drawn to the power of the finger about to be unleashed.
"We have to go, now!" Megumi said, turning to run.
We raced through the streets of Sendai as night fell. The miasma of Cursed Energy from Sugisawa High was a beacon of horror in the distance.
"You stay here!" Megumi yelled at Yuji, who had insisted on following. "This is no place for a normal person!"
He scaled the school wall and disappeared inside. I was right behind him. The school was swarming. Curses, larger and more powerful than anything a Grade 2 object should attract, were crawling through the halls.
Megumi summoned his Dogs, the white and black wolves appearing in a swirl of shadows. "Go! Find the students!"
The dogs bounded off, and we began our assault. Megumi was a whirlwind of controlled violence, his tonfas a blur, his shikigami attacking with vicious precision. But there were too many. He was quickly being overwhelmed. A massive, multi-limbed curse grabbed him, its claws digging into his shoulders, lifting him off the ground.
"Megumi!" I shouted.
He was trapped, struggling against the creature's immense strength. Just as its claws were about to crush him, I acted. I didn't have time for a complex application of Gray. This required a scalpel. Black.
I focused on the single "line of death" on the creature's primary arm. My hand flashed out, my fingers tracing the air. The curse's arm, from the shoulder down, simply ceased to exist. It didn't fall off; it vanished. The creature shrieked in pain and confusion, its grip releasing Megumi, who fell to the floor.
"I handled that one," I said, landing beside him. "The ones on the fourth floor are yours. This is your mission."
My intervention had saved him from a serious injury, but it hadn't ended the fight. The greater threat, the one that had been drawn by the finger itself, was still upstairs. He gave me a grateful, determined nod and raced up the stairs.
I was about to follow when a pink-haired blur shot past me. Yuji Itadori, ignoring all warnings, had smashed through a window and was now running up the stairs after Megumi. I sighed. Of course he had.
By the time I reached the fourth floor, the scene was chaos. Megumi, already injured, was fighting a massive, grotesque curse. His Demon Dogs had been destroyed. His seniors were cornered. And Yuji Itadori, armed with nothing but his fists, was trying fruitlessly to damage the creature.
"Run!" Megumi yelled, creating an Owl shikigami that was instantly swatted aside. "I told you to run!"
"How can I run when you're here fighting like this?!" Yuji shot back. He looked at the finger, then at his cornered friends, then at the struggling Megumi. His face set with a desperate, insane resolve. "If I just had some Cursed Energy… if I just had some power… this would work, right?!"
"Don't!" I screamed, realizing what he was about to do, but it was too late.
In one swift movement, Yuji Itadori popped the mummified finger of Ryomen Sukuna into his mouth and swallowed.
The explosion of Cursed Energy was unlike anything I had ever felt. It was a tidal wave of pure, ancient malevolence, a power so vast and so vile it made Rika's feel like a gentle spring breeze. Yuji's body convulsed, black markings spreading across his skin like ink in water. Two new eyes snapped open below his own.
He stood up, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his face. This was not Yuji Itadori. This was a king, returned to his throne of flesh. This was Ryomen Sukuna.
He took one look at the curse that had been threatening them and, with a flick of his wrist, obliterated it. He then turned his attention to us. He looked at Megumi with a flicker of interest. Then, his four crimson eyes landed on me.
He tilted his head, his grin widening. "Well now," Sukuna's voice was a low, terrifying rumble. "Huh interesting. You reek of the concept of death itself, girl. What a fascinating little soul."
I stood my ground, my entire body humming with a fear so profound it was almost exhilarating. I was staring at the undisputed King of Curses.
Then, the impossible happened. The black markings on Yuji's body receded. He clutched his head, his expression confused. "Man, I feel… weird. Did it work?"
He had regained control. Sukuna was suppressed. The one-in-a-million chance had actually happened.
I stared in utter disbelief. Even Sukuna, from within Yuji, seemed shocked.
"Don't move."
The voice was casual, light, but it carried the weight of the universe. Satoru Gojo stood in the ruined hallway, his hands in his pockets. He had arrived.
"You're not gonna believe this, sensei," Megumi panted. "He ate it!"
Satoru's focus was entirely on the boy who now housed a god. "For real? Wow. Can you switch back?"
"I think… I can," Yuji said.
"Okay. Give me ten seconds. I'll explain the situation to you after."
In the next moment, Sukuna was back in control, lunging at Satoru with blinding speed. What followed wasn't a fight. It was a lesson. Satoru, with a playful smile on his face, effortlessly dodged, blocked, and countered every move the King of Curses made, all while giving a running commentary.
As they moved, Satoru shot me a look. A single, sharp glance that was a clear and direct order. Heal Megumi.
I nodded, rushing to Megumi's side. I placed my hands on his shoulders, channeling the warm, gentle energy of my Reverse Cursed Technique. It was a slow, draining process, but his wounds began to stitch themselves closed. I had been useful. I had protected my friend. But in doing so, I had simply ensured that the stage was set for the true beginning.
The ten seconds were up. Satoru tapped Yuji on the forehead, and he was instantly knocked unconscious.
Satoru slung the boy over his shoulder and looked at us, his expression unreadable behind his blindfold. "We're taking him back. The higher-ups are going to be a real pain about this."
I looked at the unconscious Yuji Itadori, the vessel of the King of Curses. The story had truly begun. My quiet year interlude was over. And the peaceful days were numbered.